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Students Struggle for Words

Business Schools Put More Emphasis on Writing Amid Employer Complaints

By

Diana Middleton

Updated March 3, 2011 12:01 a.m. ET

Alex Stavros, a second-year student at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, had been pitching an eco-tourism luxury resort idea to potential investors for months, but wasn't getting any bites.

He noticed that investors lost interest after the first few minutes of his presentation, and were slow to reply to emails. So Mr. Stavros enlisted the help of one of Stanford's writing coaches for six weeks to help streamline his pitch....